Josh. xi. 6, 9. Meton. applied to when the horses are, no doubt, chariots to raise the idea of each word, by saying, meant, that the wall here is a metaphor for the 2 Sam. viii. 4; 1 Chron. xviii. 4. - of an prince of the city; or that the ox, being an ox, Gen. xlix. 6. But here or is probably emblem of greatness, signifies the governor. put (metaph.) for a powerful man, as in But the mistake seems only to be this,— other cases. , in the parallel seems to that the word here expresses plainly, what prove this, alluding to the violater of Dinah, these interpreters were constrained to think Gen. xxxiv. was at least expressed in metaphor; for the words of the history remarkably coincide with, and greatly illustrate these words of Jacob. In chap. xxxiv. 25, 26, we read, They slew all the males, Hamor also, and Sichem (the prince and his son), they slew with the sword: so here, in exactly the same Ged.-6 Enter not thou, my soul! into their cabal; mingle not, mine honour! in their assembly. For in their ire they massacred men [so Rosen., virum, i.e., viros collective], and in their wanton wilfulness extirpated a chief [Heb., digged down a wall]. 7 Accursed be their ire, for it was fierce; and their fury, for it was inflexible, &c. Booth. 6 Enter not, my soul, into their counsel; 6 For in their anger they slew the men; 7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, order In their anger they slew the men; And in their fury, they destroyed the princes: Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; And their fury, for it was inflexible. 'Tis remarkable, that the second part of this sentence increases in emphasis upon the first; in their anger they slew the inhabitants; but, in the excess or overflowing of their anger they destroyed the princes. The verb signifies in the Hebrew, penitus eradicavit, radicitus perdidit (very properly therefore applied to the destruction of the whole family of the princes of Sichem), and in Arabic it signifies peremit, interfecit. That does not here signify a wall, may be inferred from the history of the destruc- It is confessed that here is another alteration of the Sichemites by Simeon and Levi, tion introduced in the word rendered their chap. xxxiv. 25, &c.; since no such circum- fury; and 'tis presumed, that it will be stance is at all mentioned as their digging admitted by the learned, upon their condown the walls of the city, which, indeed, sidering the reasons in defence of it. It could have answered no end, as they had must be observed, that Jacob, having said murdered all the men and plundered the in the beginning of the first line, In their city. But, even admitting they had done anger they slew the men, begins the next this, it is more unlikely still, that old Jacob line with Cursed be their anger; a conshould in this solemn manner curse their nexion so striking, from the repetition of passion most for doing what (if they had done it) would have been the least part of their crime. the word DEN, that from that consideration only we might almost conclude there was the same striking connexion between the Others, seeing the absurdity of rendering second part of the two sentences, arising from this word here a wall, have rendered it an the same repetition; and in their fury, they ox or oxen. But that these brothers did not destroyed the princes: cursed be their fury, hough the oxen is certainly presumable &c. But at present we have in these two from this remarkable circumstance in the places two different words; the last being history; that they took their sheep, and the very word, which we might expect; their oxen, and their asses, and that which and the first one of the words, which was was in the city, and that which was in the least likely to be chosen for the place it field, and all their wealth, and all their little now fills. ones, and their wives took they captive, &c. For (which our translators have renSee verses 28 and 29. The wiser among dered (self-will) signifies properly benethe commentators, seeing the impropriety volentia, gratia, favor, &c., and is never of both these renderings, have endeavoured once (I believe) rendered by a word of un favourable idea, but in this place. The 2. His tongue, for which the word honour LXX. render it by evdokia, xapis, eλeos, or glory is commonly put, as Psal. xvi. 9, ιλαρότης, ιλαρόν, θέλημα, θέλησις, δεκτος, compared with Acts ii. 26; Psal. xxx. 12; πроσdeктоs, and apeσros—the ideas of which lvii. 8; cviii. 1, because the tongue or speech words are certainly as opposite to the temper is the glory of a man, by which he is disof Simeon and Levi, (especially here, where tinguished from unreasonable creatures, and, they are properly declared instruments of if well used, it brings much honour to God, cruelty,) as can well be conceived: whereas and to the man that speaks with it. So the the two principal renderings of the other sense is, As my soul did not approve of that word are opyn and Ovμos; with some- wicked action, so my tongue never gave times opunua and μŋvis-words, whose ideas consent to it, nor shall it now by silence are the most consonant imaginable. The seem to own it, but shall publicly witness inference deducible from hence seems to be, my abhorrence of it. In their anger they that probably D was originally on, slew a man, i.e., men, the Shechemites, Gen. as in the corresponding place; the words xxxiv. 25, 26, the singular number for the consist of the same number of letters, and plural, as Gen. iii. 2; xxxii. 5; 1 Chron. four out of the six letters are the very same. x. 1, compared with 1 Sam. xxxi. 1. He This second word the Syriac interpreter has saith man rather than men, either with rendered by AS, which is a word of respect unto the prince, whose slaughter was principally designed, or to show that great emphasis, and signifies indignatio fortis In their self(Schaaf's Syriac Lexicon), and in this version they slew them all to a man. will: it may note, that this cruelty of theirs the noun is regularly repeated; was committed, 1. By their own will and which is one argument in confirmation of choice, not by Jacob's will or consent, the second word's being repeated in the which they never asked nor obtained. Hebrew copy, from whence this translation 2. Without any necessity or sufficient prowas made. And, indeed, there is such an vocation, but merely by their own will and. accession of spiritedness and beauty given proper motion. 3. Not rashly and hastily, to the sentence by the double repetition, but wilfully and resolvedly, after mature that the reasons here offered seem sufficient deliberation. 4. Not unwillingly, but cheerto recommend it.-Kennicott's Dissertation fully, and with delight and good-will, as on 1 Chron. xi., page 57. that word commonly signifies. They digged Pool. Their secret; or, counsel, or com- down a wall; not the walls of the city, but pany, as the word is used, Psal. Ixiv. 2; of private houses; it may be only of the Jer. xv. 17; i.e., do not partake with them prince's house, who upon the first noise of in their secret and wicked designs. Hereby the tumult might, and probably did, retire he signifies to all posterity, that that bloody and secure himself in some strong room of enterprise was undertaken without his con- the house, whose wall they brake down that sent or approbation, and that he could not they might come at him. For neither were think of it without detestation, nor let it the walls of houses or cities so strong then pass without a severe censure. Or, O my as now many are; nor were Simeon and soul, thou wast not in their secret, as the Levi destitute of fit instruments to break Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic take it, by a down a wall, which doubtless they brought common enallage of the future tense, for the with them, as easily foreseeing that difficulty past. Mine honour; either, I. Properly so in their enterprise. But because the Hebrew called. So the sense is, Let not my honour word is not shur, a wall, but schor, an ox, or good name be bound up with theirs; they others translate the words thus, they houghed, gloried in this wickedness, which I abomi- or killed an ox, or bull, meaning Shechem, nate, and which indeed is their shame. Or, so called either from his lust, or from his II. Improperly; so he understands either, strength and power, from which princes are 1. His soul, which is indeed the glory of a oft so called, as Deut. xxxiii. 17; Psal. man, though I do not remember any place xxii. 12; lxviii. 30. Or rather thus, they of Scripture where that word must neces-rooted out, or drove away an ox, i.e., the sarily be so understood. So this is a re- oxen, the singular number for the plural, as petition of the same thing in other words, before; and under them are comprehended which is usual in Scripture. Or rather, the other cattle of the Shechemites, which U Cursed be their anger, or cursed was. It was execrable and abominable both before God and men; such as deserved and brought the curse of God upon themselves, which I, as God's instrument, am now to pronounce against them. סור they drove away, as we read they did, Gen. |ne uniatur gloria, i.e., anima mea. Bp. Patrick. They digged down a wall.] Broke into Hamor's house, where Shechem was, &c. 7 For it was fierce.] Outrageous; or, as the Vulgar translates it, pertinacious. Not a sudden, impetuous passion, that was soon over: but a settled, inflexible rage. Rosen. In arcanum, consilium eorum ne veniat anima mea, in coetu eorum esse ,Maledicta sit eorum ira אָרוּר קָשָׁתָה 7 Schum.-6 Quum Schimeon et Levi viri sint tam pravæ indolis, detestatur Iacob eorum et consilia et concilia. Itaque pergit vaticinando eos exsecrari: in conciliis vestris ne commemoretur anima mea, i.e., vobiscum non conveniam, improbabo prava consilia vestra. Cave, ne præverbium, quod, ubi cum verbis motus copulatur, simul indicat manere aliquid in aliquo loco (vid. Wineri exeget. Studien, p. i. p. 49, s. Ewaldi krit. Gr., p. 605), cum præpositione, quæ tantum motum ad aliquam rem exprimit, temere commutes. Nam præterquam quod hoc docet natura huius præverbii, in altero hemistichio parallelismi synonymici vocc. i.e., in coetu eorum ne sit consociata voluntas mea illud ad fatim con Ἰούδα, σὲ αἰνέσαισαν οἱ ἀδελφοί σου. al χειρές σου ἐπὶ νώτου τῶν ἐχθρῶν σου. προστ Kuvýσovσí σo oi vioì roû ñarpós σov. 8 αἰνέσαισαν] αινέσουσιν 72, Compl. σo] σe VII.; X.; XIII. codd., Compl., Ald., Alex. oi vioì] vioí VII.; X. codd., Cat., Nic.-Schum. - So Schum. firmant. 7 autem hic in oratione poëtica ex parallelismo membrorum synonymico significare: animus meus, idque esse poëticam personæ primæ circumscriptionem, satis constat inter omnes. His ita expositis de prava indole Schimeonis et Levi, poëta ut Au. Ver.-8 Judah, thou art he whom apud Rubenem sic nunc addit causam, ob thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be quam illi a patre diris devovendi fuerint. in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's Pergit igitur sic: ira flagrantes occiderunt children shall bow down before thee. virum, et prava cupiditate incensi enervarunt Bp. Horsley.-8-12 "Judah." Judah's bovem. Quamquam auctor respicit cap. part takes up four entire stanzas. The first, xxxiv. ubi quidem de nece Sichemitarum a triplet, declaring the superiority of the nihil vero de muris dirutis memoriæ tribe of Judah in military prowess: the proditum est, haud pauci tamen fuerunt, qui second composed of two couplets, in which cum plerisque antiquis interpretibus legi the same subject is amplified, and the mallent, ut hanc loci mentem con- strength and grandeur of the kingdom of stituerent: everterunt muros Sichemi urbis. Judah are signified, under images taken Sed hæc parallelismo membrorum æque from the actions of the lion. The third repugnant, atque eorum sententia, qui stanza is again composed of two couplets, per metaphoram de Schechemo dictum declaring the duration of the political existnegant ideoque collective de Sichemitis ence of Judah, as the head of the true et collective de tauris explicant, male Church. The fourth, in three couplets, collato xxxiv. 28, s. ubi nihil legitur de describes the fertility of his territory. tauris enervatis (vidd. Bonfrer., Calov., Cle- Judah, thou art he whom. ricus, Rosenmueller in scholl. et in diss. de Ken.-Judah! thou! thee shall thy brevers. Pent. Pers., p. 34, Schott ad h. 1.). thren praise. Nam quum videas synonymicum parallelismum, sponte apparet, respondere antecedenti ita, ut significet hominem ro- Booth.-Judah! thee, thee shall, &c. bustum, potentem, audacem, qualis erat cap. Pool. Or rather, Thou art Judah [so xxxiv. Schechem, qui Dinam vi compressit Patrick], thy brethren shall praise or celebrate et hac violentia totius cladis Sichemitarum thee. So the expression is like that 1 Sam. suæque ipsius auctor fuit. Cui sententiæ, xxv. 25, As his name is, so is he: Nabal is non video, quid obstet. Homines enim ab his name, and folly is with him, or in him. Hebræis nonnunquam cum tauris comparari, So here the sense is, As thy name signifies doceant Deut. xxxiii. 17; Ps. xxii. 13; praise, Gen. xxxix. 35, so shalt thou have lxviii. 31. Cfr. Homer. Iliad., ii. 480. Ita- praise or honour from thy brethren. que colligimus, dici de Schechemo, alludes to his name, and to the occasion of quia Schimeon et Levi vires eius circum- it, but with an elegant variation. Thou art cisione infregerunt infractumque occiderunt. deservedly called Judah, not only because Cfr. xxxiv. 24, s. Alii intelligunt solum thy mother praised God for thee, but also Hemorem, Sichemitarum principem, ideoque Kennicott. in diss. i. supra text. Hebr. prolegi voluit princeps (vid. Schulz ad h. 1.). Alii denique de Iosepho intellectum cupiunt, quem Schimeon et Levi in Ægyptum deduci passi essent. Sed ista sententia refutatione vix digna reperiatur. Ged.-Thee, Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise. He because thy brethren shall praise and bless thee for the reasons here following. But this, as also the other blessings or predictions, do not so much declare the state of Judah or the rest in their own persons, as in their posterity. Rosen.-Juda, te celebrabunt fratres tui. Ver. 9. σκύμνος λέοντος Ἰούδα. ἐκ βλαστοῦ υἱέ μου ἀνέβης. ἀναπεσὼν ἐκοιμήθης ὡς λέων, καὶ ὡς σκύμνος. τίς ἐγερεῖ αὐτόν; Verba non verte: Juda tu es, sed | hostium, i.e., eos fugandos permittere, vid. simpliciter Juda! Solent enim Hebræi Ex. xxiii. 27; Jos. vii. 8, 12; Ps. xviii. 41. eleganter aut pronomen aut sequens affixum redundanter ponere, ut idem sit, ac si dixisset simpliciter ; cf. ad Ps. ix. 7. Schum.-Poeta consulto addit ab initio (id quod cum aliis Rosen. ad h. 1. redundare contendit), ut cum vi et tanquam digito eum demonstret, qui omnium sit celebratissimus. Itaque redde mentem verborum sic : Iuda, tu es ille, quem fratres tui celebrabunt, i. e., Au. Ver.-9 Judah is a lion's whelp; from neque Ruben neque Schimeon et Levi, sed the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he tu potius, qui ordine eos excipis, es beatus stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as ille, quem fratres laudibus efferent, quem an old lion; who shall rouse him up? venerabuntur. Aliam notionem verbi, Pool. Judah is as a lion's whelp, or as a quam Onk., Ion., Persa, et Hierosol. reddid-young lion, for courage, and strength, and erunt, probavit Rosenmueller in diss. de terror to his enemies. The particle as is here Pent. Pers., p. 35, nimirum hanc: te confite- wanting, as also ver. 14, 17, 21, 22, and buntur omnes fratres tui, et de nomine tuo in many other places, as Psal. xi. 1; xii. 6; vocabuntur omnes Iudæi. Cfr. Winer de Onk., xxii. 6, &c. And he is rightly compared p. 29. Sed ne Iacobus inique videatur tam first to a lion's whelp, then to an old lion, to magnifice sentire de Iudæ præstantia, lauda- signify the growth of that tribe in strength tor temporis exacti futuri simul addit, cur and interest; and that from small begintanta paternæ precationis beneficia in Iudam nings, and a precedency of order only, merito sint collata: - manus tua Judg. i. 1, 2, it should ascend to the height (erit) in cervice hostium tuorum, i.e., pro of honour, and power, and happiness in imagine, qua Orientales cladem hosti illatam David, and especially in the Messiah, who designant (cfr. Ex. xxiii. 27; Ios. vii. 8, 12; should conquer all nations. From the prey Ps. xviii. 41), hostes tuos vinces (cfr. Num. thou art gone up. Having taken the prey, x. 14; Iud. i. 2, ss. xx. 18). In qua re i.e., conquered thine enemies, thou art gone perspicue cernitur consilium poëtæ, qui, ne up in triumph; or gone up, i.e., grown heros quem canit labe quadam adspergatur, greater and higher after thy victories, as the iis, quæ cap. 38, de Iuda narrantur, perquam manner is. Or he alludes to the lions, which connivet, ideoque non ut apud Rubenem, usually dwell in mountains, as divers writers Schimeonem et Levin acta sed agenda solerter observe, and come down to prey in the in usum suum convertit. valleys, and when they have got their prey, they go up to their habitations [so Rosen., Schum., see below]; and so shall Judah do. He stooped; a change of the person very subdue them. This was fulfilled in part, frequent in prophetical writings, as we shall Judg. i. 1, 2, 4; iii. 9, 10; but more fully oft have occasion to note hereafter. He in David, 2 Sam. viii. 1; and Solomon, couched. When he hath taken the prey, he Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies. Pool.-i.e., thou shalt overthrow and 1 Chron. xxii. 9; and most eminently, doth not convey it away to his den with though spiritually, in Christ. The phrase haste and speed for fear the enemy should is taken either, 1. From the practice of return and overtake him, but like a lion he warriors, who use to assault their enemies in that part, that they may throw them down at their feet; of which see Job xv. 26; xvi. 12. Or, 2. From the custom of conquerors, who are said to put the yokes upon the necks of the conquered. See Gen. xxvii. 40; Deut. xxviii. 48; Isa. x. 27; Jer. xxvii. 8; xxviii. 14. Rosen., cervix, collum, hic pro tergo, dorso capiendum (LXX. város), ut in phrasi sæpius obvia, dare alicui, tergum stoops down to feed upon his prey, and coucheth or lieth down securely to rest himself after he hath eaten it, without the least fear of any enemy, as it is observed of him, Isa. xxxi. 4. Judah's conquests shall not be interrupted or followed with ill successes and defeats or overthrows afterward, as it frequently happens in the course of war, but he quietly possesses his spoils, and after the bloody wars, to which he will be forced, shall enjoy a sweet peace and tranquillity, |